Changes to This Summary (02/01/2012)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Introduction ¹

Updated statistics ² with estimated new thyroid cancer cases and deaths for 2012 (cited American Cancer Society as reference 1).

Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2 ³

Updated statistics ⁴ with estimated new multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2–related medullary thyroid cancer cases for 2012.

Added Kudo et al. as reference 15 ⁵.

Added text ⁶ to state that studies have identified additional susceptibility genes that predispose to pheochromocytoma, including TMEM127, MAX, and SDHAF2 (cited Comino-Méndez et al., Neumann et al., Burnichon et al., and Bayley et al. as references 40, 41, 42, and 43, respectively). Also added text to state that mutations in these genes are thought to account for a small proportion of all hereditary pheochromocytoma.

Added text ⁷ to state that clinical trials of various targeted molecular therapies are ongoing; some of these compounds have shown partial responses in a small percentage of patients, but most studies have demonstrated disease stability as the most favorable response (cited Cohen et al., Lam et al., Carr et al., and Kurzrock et al. as references 148, 149, 150, and 151, respectively). Also added text about a phase III clinical trial that found that progression-free survival was longer in patients who received the study drug than in those who received placebo (cited Wells et al. as reference 152).